In 1992 he joined with Proinsias De Rossa and five other Workers' Party deputies in resigning from the Workers' Party and in the creation of a new party, New Agenda which subsequently became Democratic Left. He stood as a Democratic Left candidate at the 1992 general election but lost his seat.[2] After the collapse of the 1992–94 Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition government Democratic Left joined in a new coalition with Fine Gael and the Labour Party. This government subsequently appointed McCartan to the bench as a Circuit Court judge.